Albireo - USB/SD/Serial interface for CPC

[TFM]

This is embarassing, as the preorder list for the first batch of boards is already complete. I don't mind shipping you one of the prototype boards, but it will shift all orders down, and the last person to order will not get a board from the first batch.
@dxs: is it ok if I move you to the second batch? Or, does someone else want to delay his order to the second batch so Prodatron can get a board to work on SymbOS support?

Also, an update: I have ordered the PCBs for the second batch. It will take a few days or weeks before I get them. Please be patient

Hi! He can have one of my boards and you set my 2nd board at the end of the list. No problem! 

[Munchausen]

Was going to offer the same as TFM... offer is there anyway

[dodogildo]

@dxs: is it ok if I move you to the second batch? Or, does someone else want to delay his order to the second batch so Prodatron can get a board to work on SymbOS support?

Wouldn't it be cooler to delay one piece of x2 orders to the 2nd batch instead of moving @dxs?

[dxs]

Hi, being the last one ordering do what you think is best. Happy soldering btw I know how boring this can be...

[TFM]

Hi, being the last one ordering do what you think is best. Happy soldering btw I know how boring this can be...

Oh yes, I'm soldering too at the moment... nice job for weekends    Since I will really busy this month it's just fine to leave one of my Albis for prodatron, he waits already too long for CPC networking hardware. 

[PulkoMandy]

Information about payments
Please wait until I contact you with payment info (I will do so when I have a board ready to ship for you).I don't want to receive payments too much in advance then have people waiting on me to ship the boards. I would then have to handle the pressure of everyone waiting, and also possibly cancelling and rescheduling orders and whatnot. So I prefer that you pay only when your board is ready to ship. Thanks for your patience!

You can pay either using paypal or a bank account transfer. The price is 20 euros, or 24 euros if you want tracked shipping.
If you want, you can order multiple boards. However, I will try to get the boards in the hand of as much people as possible, so I may delay shipping of your second (and third, ...) boards.

If there is a hardware problem, you can send the board back to me and I'll fix or replace it. So don't worry about getting a prototype. (and if you get a final version, I will do the same, because I don't want the boards to be thrown away in case of problems).

Already shipped (with tracking numbers for those who chosen tracked shipping)

• 0 - PulkoMandy (delivered)
• 1 - OffseT (delivered)
• 2 - Gryzor LA004676105FR
• 3 - Prodatron LA004676145FR

Batch 1 waiting list
Status: the PCBs have been ordered, it can take a few weeks before I get them. I have parts of the components to solder, and will order the remaining part when the PCBs are shipped.

4 - cpcmaniaco (x1, prototype board) 5 - ||C||-||E|| 6 - majikeyric (x1) 7 - CraigsBar (x2) 9 - TFM (x2) 11 - pelrun 12 - Optimus 13 - Ast 14 - tonio8bits (x2) 16 - hsimpson 17 - SOS 18 - Audronic 19 - gros_minet 20 - Fessor 21 - Sykobee (Briggsy)

22 - skywalky 23 - Jungsi 24 - Poliander 25 - Yannis_uno 26 - Rennert 27 - HAL6128 28 - Joseman 29 - Tai 30 - Grim 31 - reidrac 32 - cosa_nostra_6128 33 - Targhan 34 - oratyper 35 - NiNxPe 36 - Vandalsk (x2)

38 - Dirtybb 39 - Dubliner 40 - ronaldo (x2) 42 - cpcmaniaco (x1) 43 - Munchausen (x2) 45 - jrodriguezv (x2) 47 - netmercer 48 - Shining 49 - archosmo 50 - awergh 51 - wilco2009 52 - dodogildo 53 - Apollo (x2) 55 - dxs

Batch 2 waiting list
Status: Nothing done yet.

• 56 - majikeyric (second board)
• 57 - (awaiting orders...)

[AlexD]

Hi there, this project really looks cool!
Is it still possible to order one board ?

[PulkoMandy]

Yes, it is. I'm waiting for the 50 next boards to be delivered so I can assemble and ship them.

[AlexD]

then count me for one board

[Gryzor]

So this is heading to 100 units then!

[TotO]

Poor Pulko... A pain in ass to solder all before next christmas! 

[PulkoMandy]

So this is heading to 100 units then!

We'll see, maybe the second batch will be smaller if there aren't much more orders. But I guess there may be a new wave of interested buyers for each new software supporting the board, so now that OffseT and Prodatron are working on that, let's see what happens!

[Dizrythmia]

We'll see, maybe the second batch will be smaller if there aren't much more orders. But I guess there may be a new wave of interested buyers for each new software supporting the board, so now that OffseT and Prodatron are working on that, let's see what happens!

No offense, but that's what I'm waiting for. I'm sure it's an amazing piece of kit but I want to see what software support ends up happening with it first

[PulkoMandy]

Yes, I'm actually quite suprised that 50 people are ready to order the board even if it was clearly mentionned that it currently comes with no software.


Some news on the "batch 1" boards:
The PCBs are on the way from China. I also ordered the missing components during the week-end.


And, I have to fixup the pricing. I soled the prototypes for 20 euros or 24 euros with tracked shipping. However, I will have to raise the price a bit for the final version. The change covers for:

• Increase of postal fees on 1st of january: tracked shipping now costs me 5.60 euros
• Extra components on the board: the activity LED and its matching resistor
• And of course, the time spent assembling the boards, and the tools (solder wire, flux pen, etc) required, the electricity for the soldering iron, a new battery for my multimeter, etc
• Possible changes in $/€ change rate, paypal fees if you pay using Paypal, etc

So, the price will be:

• 30 euros including international tracked shipping
• 25 euros including non-tracked shipping

This is as was originally announced in the first post.

If you already paid for your boards, no need to adjust anything - christmas rebate for you! This only applies to payments made from now on.

[Munchausen]

Yes, I'm actually quite suprised that 50 people are ready to order the board even if it was clearly mentionned that it currently comes with no software.

A community that is enthusiastic for new hardware can only be good - maybe it's because there's been so much good new hardware lately. Anyway, the board is more likely to get software support when >50 people have one . Also, it seems like quite minimal software effort (comparatively) is needed to get access to FAT USB/SD drives.

[reidrac]

Yes, I'm actually quite suprised that 50 people are ready to order the board even if it was clearly mentionned that it currently comes with no software.

There's always the option to wait until someone else cracks the problem, but when you said we had to write drivers, I assumed that the hardware comes with documentation to do that.

Is there any chance to get some docs to look at before the hardware is ready?

I fancy giving it a go myself (given the time); and I assume that there's a risk obviously (hardware with no software, there's a chance that it won't do what it says on the tin).

[PulkoMandy]

There is some documentation available.

Some basic description of the hardware and wiring:
Shinra Team

The datasheets for the components:
[ul]

• http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/tl16c550d.pdf (serial port)
• http://www.ftdichip.com/Documents/DataSheets/ICs/DS_FT231X.pdf (usb converter for serial port)
• http://www.8bit.8u.cz/Files/CH375/CH375DS1.pdf (USB host controller, part 1: USB access, sector read/write, non-mass storage devices)
• https://www.mpja.com/download/ch376ds1.pdf (USB host controller, part 2: FAT32 access)

[/ul]

A test program I wrote in BASIC (with access to SD and USB and reading the root directory entries):
http://pulkomandy.tk/drop/ch376.bas

The general workflow is (not all steps are used for all commands):
[ul]

• Send a command byte
• Send parameters
• Wait for INTERRUPT (either a real interrupt if you setup the interrupt routing on Albireo, or polling bit 7 of the status register)
• Use command 22 to get operation status
• Use command 27 to get result data

[/ul]

Of course, if you have questions, I can try to answer them.

[PulkoMandy]

Information about payments
Please wait until I contact you with payment info (I will do so when I have a board ready to ship for you).I don't want to receive payments too much in advance then have people waiting on me to ship the boards. I would then have to handle the pressure of everyone waiting, and also possibly cancelling and rescheduling orders and whatnot. So I prefer that you pay only when your board is ready to ship. Thanks for your patience!

You can pay either using paypal or a bank account transfer. The price is 25 euros, or 30 euros if you want tracked shipping.
If you want, you can order multiple boards. However, I will try to get the boards in the hand of as much people as possible, so I may delay shipping of your second (and third, ...) boards.

If there is a hardware problem, you can send the board back to me and I'll fix or replace it. So don't worry about getting a prototype. (and if you get a final version, I will do the same, because I don't want the boards to be thrown away in case of problems).

Already shipped (with tracking numbers for those who chosen tracked shipping)

• 0 - PulkoMandy (delivered)
• 1 - OffseT (delivered)
• 2 - Gryzor LA004676105FR
• 3 - Prodatron LA004676145FR

Batch 1 waiting list
Status: the PCBs have been ordered, it can take a few weeks before I get them. I have parts of the components to solder, and will order the remaining part when the PCBs are shipped.

4 - cpcmaniaco (x1, prototype board) 5 - ||C||-||E|| 6 - majikeyric (x1) 7 - CraigsBar (x1) 8 - TFM (x1) 9 - pelrun 10 - Optimus 11 - Ast 12 - tonio8bits (x2) 14 - hsimpson 15 - SOS 16 - Audronic 17 - gros_minet 18 - Fessor 19 - Sykobee (Briggsy)

20 - skywalky 21 - Jungsi 22 - Poliander 23 - Yannis_uno 24 - Rennert 25 - HAL6128 26 - Joseman 27 - Tai 28 - Grim 29 - reidrac 30 - cosa_nostra_6128 31 - Targhan 32 - oratyper 33 - NiNxPe 34 - Vandalsk (x2)

36 - Dirtybb 37 - Dubliner 38 - ronaldo (x2) 40 - cpcmaniaco (x1) 41 - Munchausen (x2) 43 - jrodriguezv (x2) 45 - netmercer 46 - Shining 47 - archosmo 48 - awergh 49 - wilco2009 50 - dodogildo 51 - Apollo (x2) 53 - dxs 54 - AlexD 55 - jaime

Batch 2 waiting list
Status: Nothing done yet.

• 56 - majikeyric (second board)
• 57 - CraigsBar (second board)
• 58 - TFM (second board)
• 59 - (awaiting orders...)

[HAL 6128]

Some basic description of the hardware and wiring:
Shinra Team
...
A test program I wrote in BASIC (with access to SD and USB and reading the root directory entries):
http://pulkomandy.tk/drop/ch376.bas

The general workflow is (not all steps are used for all commands):
[ul]

• Send a command byte
• Send parameters
• Wait for INTERRUPT (either a real interrupt if you setup the interrupt routing on Albireo, or polling bit 7 of the status register)
• Use command 22 to get operation status
• Use command 27 to get result data

[/ul]

Of course, if you have questions, I can try to answer them.

At first sight it looks very easy in handling it, even in BASIC (...I'm really not a very advanced nor a good programmer). Therefore my question: I understand the polling principle? During polling I'm not able to do anything parallel, because I always check some status bits. "Waiting for an interrupt" sounds for me, that I'm able to do other things and an interrupt interrupts my program somewhere? How do my program know if an interrupt emerge? Is it possible to do that in BASIC? (Is this a stupid question?)

[PulkoMandy]

It will be difficult to use the interrupts from pure BASIC, because it makes no plans for external interrupts (you only have the AFTER and EVERY statements, but these are not enough as they are designed to wait for the Gate Array interrupts).


As the first boards are being delivered, I got questions about the SD card socket. It is not a push/push or push/pull type as usual. You need to unlock it by pulling it towards the top of the board, theen lift it open like this: http://www.digikey.com/-/media/Images/Product%20Highlights/H/Hirose%20Electric%20Co%20Ltd/Hirose%20DM3CS%20Connector/hirose-dm3cs-2.jpg?la=en&ts=385828a8-3d05-4bba-ad73-95667476d7eb . Then you insert the microSD card and close it.

[PulkoMandy]

Hi,
This week-end I have updated the documentation page and wrote a new test program. It all happens at Shinra Team.

What you will find (towards the bottom of the page):

• A rough translation (with lots of help from Google Translate) of CH376DS2.pdf. This is the low-level commands to control USB. The translation does not make a lot of sense yet, but,
• An extension of my previous BASIC listing testing the use of a standard USB mouse (with 3 buttons and scroll wheel). Even with this simple BASIC test, the mouse seems to reply quite nicely. The CH376 can be configured to interrupt the z80 only when something changes (buttons or mouse position), and the mouse will report by how much it has moved since last time, so the reply to the interrupts needs not be very fast.

Of course, while the mouse is used, no access to mass storage is possible (you need to remove the USB drive to plug the mouse, and the CH376 can only drive either the USB port or the SD card, but not both at the same time). I hope everyone is ok with no mouse moves while there is disk activity?

[TFM]

Can't wait to work with it 

[Munchausen]

Of course, while the mouse is used, no access to mass storage is possible (you need to remove the USB drive to plug the mouse, and the CH376 can only drive either the USB port or the SD card, but not both at the same time). I hope everyone is ok with no mouse moves while there is disk activity?

So you can't have a hub and multiple devices?

Sounds like really useful example code

[PulkoMandy]

I haven't tried plugging an hub yet. I think it can work, but maybe not at the same time as the internal mass storage/fat32 driver.
In the example code for the mouse you can see there is a "set address" step. The idea is that when a device is plugged on a hub, you need to assign it an (unique) address. Then you can use this address to talk to the device. the default address for newly plugged devices is always 0. There is apparently some way for one device to get address 0, until it is configured. Then, you can use address 0 to configure the next device, and so on.
I will have to experiment more with that to decide what works and what doesn't.

[PulkoMandy]

Information about payments
Please wait until I contact you with payment info (I will do so when I have a board ready to ship for you).I don't want to receive payments too much in advance then have people waiting on me to ship the boards. I would then have to handle the pressure of everyone waiting, and also possibly cancelling and rescheduling orders and whatnot. So I prefer that you pay only when your board is ready to ship. Thanks for your patience!


You can pay either using paypal or a bank account transfer. The price is 25 euros, or 30 euros if you want tracked shipping.
If you want, you can order multiple boards. However, I will try to get the boards in the hand of as much people as possible, so I may delay shipping of your second (and third, ...) boards.


If there is a hardware problem, you can send the board back to me and I'll fix or replace it. So don't worry about getting a prototype. (and if you get a final version, I will do the same, because I don't want the boards to be thrown away in case of problems).


Already shipped (with tracking numbers for those who chosen tracked shipping)

Please let me know when your board is delivered!

• 0 - PulkoMandy (delivered)
• 1 - OffseT (delivered)
• 2 - Gryzor (delivered)
• 3 - Prodatron LA004676145FR
• 4 - cpcmaniacoLA004875968FR
• 5 - ||C||-||E|| LA004971085FR
• 6 - TFM (x1) LA004971111FR
• 7 - pelrun (no tracking)
• 8 - hsimpson LA005076522FR
• 9 - majikeyric (x1) (delivered)
• 10 - SOS LA005163955FR
• 11 - Audronic LA005163972FR

Batch 1 waiting list
Status: 50 PCBs received. I have the components to assemble 25 boards (about one per day, if I do this in the evening), and I will order more components once these 25 first are assembled and shipped.

12! - Optimus 13! - Ast 14! - tonio8bits (x2) 16 - CraigsBar (x1) 17 - gros_minet 18 - Fessor 19 - Sykobee (Briggsy) 20 - skywalky 21 - Jungsi 22 - Poliander 23 - Yannis_uno 24 - Rennert 25 - HAL6128

26 - Joseman 27 - Tai 28* - Grim 29 - reidrac 30 - cosa_nostra_6128 31 - Targhan 32 - oratyper 33 - NiNxPe 34 - Vandalsk (x2) 36 - Dirtybb 37 - Dubliner 38 - ronaldo (x2) 40~ - cpcmaniaco (x1)

41 - Munchausen (x2) 43 - jrodriguezv (x2) 45 - netmercer 46 - Shining 47 - archosmo 48 - awergh 49 - wilco2009 50 - dodogildo 51 - Apollo (x2) 53 - dxs 54 - AlexD 55 - jaime

Batch 2 waiting list
Status: Nothing done yet.

• 56 - majikeyric (second board)
• 57 - CraigsBar (second board)
• 58 - TFM (second board)
• 59 - (awaiting orders...)